


Spirit bear

by Lomeniel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Almost death, Drowning, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 04:42:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16906305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lomeniel/pseuds/Lomeniel
Summary: Inspired by Wardruna's UruR, this is a story about a hidden secret, one you’ve never known how to tell Sam and Dean, but suddenly they’re faced with it – what will they do when you attract a monster they’ve never heard of before?





	Spirit bear

“We’re awesome!” Dean offered you a high-five, and you slapped his hand with enthusiasm, relishing in the electrifying high that came with every successful hunt.  
“Oh yes, we are! Tonight we really deserve an extra bottle of beer.” You took a step towards the car and your leg wobbled a bit, sending a familiar frost into your toes. Fuck! Not now. Not tonight! You’d planned to take advantage of that liquid courage and buzzing success to… Well, it didn’t matter now. You would be incapacitated for the next few days.  
Sam was by your side immediately, supporting you by the elbow, sending chills up your arm, lessening the spreading numbness a little bit. “Hey, you okay?”  
“Yeah.” You thought about it. “No. No beer for me tonight. Sorry guys. I need to go… mmmotel.” Your voice was already slipping, and you cursed internally. Usually you were alone during these – seizures – and you didn’t want Sam and Dean to see you so vulnerable.  
Cold sweat coated your body, making you sticky and gluing your clothes to your skin. And along with the dizziness and sickness came the longing: the yearning for something long since passed. The ice beckoned you, luring you into the dark depths, back where you should’ve remained resting all those years ago.  
With one Winchester on each side, you slowly made it to the motel room you all shared with relative ease. Each step sent lightning through your bones. The ice-cold pain exploded in front of your eyes; white stars and fireworks clouded your vision, and you clung to your support as if your life depended on it.  
“Jesus, you’re freezing!” Sam commented when a bone pale hand closed around his.  
“Don’t worry,” you wanted to say, but with a frozen tongue and numb lips the words were jumbled into a drowsy donworr.   
“What’s going on, Y/N, please tell me,” Sam begged, careful to not hurt you as he lowered you down on the bed. As he placed your head on the soft pillow, Dean lifted your stiff legs so you’d be comfortable, flinching from the sudden chill in your body.  
After tucking you in with both yours and his blanket, Sam lightly kissed your forehead and sat down on the edge of the mattress and stroked your hair. “What is going on?” he repeated, growing more desperate with every shivering breath you took.  
“…n-not explain n…now,” you stuttered through your clattering teeth. “T-too late. But Sam: what’vr y’see in’ere… dn be ‘fraid. Ah… anda beri … not… bad.” Your eyes glazed over, fresh frost roses wound their way over your irises, dulling the colour before spreading over the rest of your face.  
Sam never checked, but he knew the rest of your body was covered too. You were completely frozen; your usually soft hair hidden under a thick layer of white and fuzzy rime, and your lips dark blue.  
Running a finger over your pale skin hurt – it was like dipping his hand in liquid nitrogen. He felt like throwing up. Not knowing what to do – what had caused this: it was excruciating. You hadn’t been in contact with a witch in months, no cursed objects, no magicks. Despair and desperation wrapped around him as he watched you, ignoring Dean’s futile attempts at coming up with a theory.  
Suddenly the lights flickered. The room grew dark as if a shadow blocked the sun. Sam grabbed his gun and jumped to his feet, standing over you like an angry lion, ready to rip out the throat of any threat that might be approaching, and Dean copied his brother, standing guard, watching the door.  
A presence filled the room as the shadow deepened. It crept over the walls, slowly, deliberately, closing in on you. The temperature rose, like a gust of desert winds, whipping Sam’s hair into his face.   
The wind increased, rolling back and forth – in and out like a breath, filling the now almost pitch black room with heat.  
“Dean!” Sam yelled, his mouth dry. It was as if the air had burned and shrivelled up, and in the dim light, he strained to see anything at all. His stomach twisted with dread – this was nothing like any monster they’d encountered before. Was it even possible to kill?  
“I’m here, Sammy,” Dean replied as if he was far away. Feeling his way over the floor, he joined his brother, standing watch over you.  
“Where?” Still clutching the gun with one hand like a lifeline, Sam fumbled in the darkness with the other – grasping at the empty air until he met Dean’s reassuring hand, and held tight.  
Light footsteps resonated from behind the shadows, coming nearer and nearer, until they broke through the shroud. Suddenly the sound was clear; bare feet slapping and dragging towards them, sharp claws scraping over the floor. With each step the air grew hotter.  
Dean felt sweat drip from his nose, and Sam shook his head to keep his soaked hair out of his eyes. He turned to face you. Frost radiated from your body, and a faint blue shimmer, just barely visible, pulsated over your exposed skin.  
A sharp gasp from Dean, filled with confusion and anger, turned Sam around again. The source of the steps was so close he could feel the creature inhale and exhale, and slowly – as if emerging from dark smoke, it became visible. The contour first, a large head on massive shoulders. A bulging back, covered in dark fur. Burning eyes deep in its hidden face.  
“You’re not getting her,” he said, his voice nothing more than hoarse whispers. Next to him, Dean straightened and inched closer to block the way to you.  
The creature puffed hot air through its snout and growled. The rumble was low and sharp, like a large rock being dragged across a hard surface. Something in the guttural snarl was earthly and primal, and it made the hairs on their arms rise as the waves of it hit their chests, making every breath a labour to take.  
Dean attempted to fire his gun at the creature, but his hand wouldn’t obey his mind.   
The creature growled again, louder and slower, standing in front of them like a rock. Then a voice from nowhere filled their heads: “Move.” It entered their minds with precision, searching briefly for the right expression.  
“No.” Sam trembled. “We are not leaving her.”  
A sense of both amusement and impatience filled the air, and the creature spoke in their heads again, this time faltering and broken, a voice that reminded Dean of old oak trees and dried bark. Sam had a vision of razor-sharp sand trickling over the edge into the abyss and sending a cloud of harsh dust into his eyes.  
“Move – help – frozen – dying – melt.” The creature’s misery permeated the darkness, but still Sam and Dean weren’t willing to step aside.   
With a snort of great effort, the creature lifted its body up on its hind legs. Reaching its paws towards them, a blast of boiling air rushed over them. The room changed, revealing a grey sky filled with the promise of snow.  
Sam shook his head, trying to step out of the vision, but it only grew stronger. Dean blinked from the sudden light, squinting at the picturesque scene that played in front of them. Snow clad trees appeared under the heavy clouds; the metallic taste of winter coated their tongues.  
All of a sudden a loud roar broke through the serenity. There was some sort of commotion by the forest edge; an animal fighting for its life, but to no avail: a huge net fell from the trees, and it was dragged away, roaring and raging at first, then whimpering in pain and despair.  
The vision shifted, pulling them closer to a warm light in the distance. A cluster of timber houses around a bonfire built on painted rocks, infused with herbs that smelled sweeter, almost sickly sweet, the closer they got, and in a cage covered with sigils, suspended over the flames, sat the captured animal: a huge bear-like creature. Its fur was black, almost blue where the light from the flames danced over it, and its sad eyes shone with a pale orange, like a fire that’s dying.  
Sam felt a pang of sorrow for the doomed creature: that something so beautiful and wild should die so savagely. Beside him, Dean muttered to himself: “It ain’t right,” he said, shaking his head. “It ain’t right!”  
The world darkened around them again, but the place remained. All the houses had dark windows now, and above them a full moon shone bright.  
The bonfire area, that had been bustling with people trying to get a good look at the bear-creature earlier, was empty now, save for a lone figure: a teenage girl who sat in a chair, wrapped in thick clothes and a woollen blanket. Steam rose from her mouth as she stoked the glowing embers that remained of the fire.  
In the cage, the creature rocked back and forth, breathing heavily and painfully. Its ears were drooping, and the fur seemed dirty and matted.  
Every now and then, the girl glanced up at the creature with regret in her eyes. Her eyes and nose were all that could be seen in the fur-covered hood, and they were so familiar that Sam took a step towards her. Under his boots the snow crunched and squeaked.  
“Y/N?” he breathed.  
You never heard him, of course, but you stilled, apparently deep in thought, before you slowly got up, shaking the stiffness from your limbs and rubbing your hands together. Taking a few steps towards a tall pole in the middle of the enclosure, you stopped to listen for a few seconds, casting an uneasy glance towards the nearest cluster of houses. Everything grew still, even the soft weeping from the creature.  
Then, as if you finally made up your mind, you acted swiftly: untying the rope that held the cage in place and swinging it back over safe ground, away from the burning embers. It creaked ominously as you lowered it down, and once it touched the snow, the door flung open.  
The creature’s head snapped up, a fierce fire returning to its hazy eyes. It snorted and puffed, watching you with weary eyes as you backed away from the cage, leaving it unprotected, and with a final shake of its body and soft growl, the creature took off, leaving a trail of melted paw prints and mist hanging in the air.  
Once again the vision shifted, and now they stood on the edge of an icy lake. The depths of the water sucked away all light, leaving a glistening, dark green surface. You were creeping over the thin ice, sliding on your stomach like a penguin and pushing forward with your feet, reaching for something Sam couldn’t see. With a shout of victory, you lifted a small object into the air and turned around, slowly and cautiously making your way back to the shore.   
A loud crack rang through the air like a whip. Dread ran down Sam’s spine, and he reached for his brother. Their hands met in the middle, and they clutched each other as they watched a rift in the ice grow longer, chasing you as you hurried to get away.  
Frothy waves twisted and turned as the crack expanded. Small flakes broke off, and soon you found yourself struggling in a slush of jagged shards. Within a minute you stopped fighting, and sank under the water.  
Sam called for you. He was ready to dive in, if Dean hadn’t held him back and pointed to a shadow that formed over where you’d gone down. From inside the shadow, a warm light flicked. Long flames licked the sky as the dark cloud spun around itself, slowly transforming into a furry animal that descended onto the cracked ice as if it weighed nothing.  
Suddenly the water bubbled and steamed, lifting something – you – out of the depths. The bear-creature took you in its arms and carried you to shore, placing you gently in the snow. You were pale and your lips were dark blue, and your eyes lifeless and dull.  
You weren’t breathing, and Sam watched in horror as the creature opened its mouth to devour you. But instead of swallowing you whole, it breathed on you. Over and over, until colour returned to your skin, spreading like paint in water. You spluttered and retched, then sat up, smiling tenderly at your rescuer as it dissipated into nothingness, enveloping you in a bubble of warm, dry air.  
Next came a flurry of rapid visions, one right after another; visions of you lying on a bed, on the ground, on a sofa: cold, pale, unmoving, before the bear-creature emerged from the shadows to breath life back into you. Sam felt sick as he watched you freeze to death over and over, and he leaned heavily on Dean, who in turn leaned on Sam, no doubt feeling equally weak.  
Once the visions faded, and they were back in the now sweltering motel room, both Winchesters took a step to the side to let the bear-creature pass. It swooped between them, panting and growling, and stopped, hovering just inches above you. It then let out a long, hissing breath, melting the crystals in your eyelashes.  
Slowly your chest began to rise, and you gasped, sucking in air as if you’d been drowning, looking into the fading face with gratitude and a gentle smile. “Thank you, anda beri,” you whispered as the last kiss of flames blew your hair back with a poof.  
Sam and Dean sank down on the bed on each side of you and enveloped you in a bone-crushing hug. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!” Sam growled, resting his forehead against yours.  
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Dean asked, patting your head and hair.  
“Sorry,” you muttered, looking at the hands in your lap. “I… I honestly didn’t know how. And I figured if I managed to… be… alone…” Your voice trailed off, leaving you in a pool of embarrassment.  
Sam kissed your nose, just a fleeting touch you weren’t really sure you felt at all. “Y/N, look at me.” His voice was gentle and there was a smile hidden somewhere in it. Looking up, you found two glistening, kind eyes, brimming with love. “You will never have to be alone for this. Never again.”   
Somewhere in your consciousness you felt Dean let go of the two of you, but you didn’t register. All your attention was directed at Sam, who smiled at you like the first sunshine that caresses the recently thawed out earth in the spring, and you knew – you both new that the two of you would face this together for as long as you lived.


End file.
